This invention relates generally to a convertible chair structure and particularly to a structure which can be folded from a seating mode to a prone mode.
The transferring of a patient from a hospital bed into a conventional wheel chair for transporting the patient to another part of the hospital is currently a very difficult procedure and one which requires the services of several nurses or nurses aides. The task of moving even a relatively lightweight patient, unable to provide self-help, cannot be achieved without great difficulty. Structures which can be converted from a chair configuration to a cart or a bed configuration are well known. However, in general these devices are intended either for optional use as stretchers, see U.S. Pat. No. 3,137,551 or as cots, see U.S. Pat. No. 2,377,649 and U.S. Pat. No. 3,112, 001. Such structures are invariably complicated and therefore expensive. Further, they are not intended to assist in transferring a patient from a hospital bed to mobile carrier for transportation to a different hospital station.
The present structure overcomes the inherent problems in convertible chair structures in a manner not disclosed in the known prior art.